Subdivision 1. Selection for review; notice. (a)
Postelection review under this section must be conducted only on
the election for president, senator or representative in
Congress, constitutional offices, and legislative offices.

(b) The Office of the Secretary of State shall, within
three days after each state general election beginning in 2006,
randomly select 80 precincts for postelection review as defined
in this section. The precincts must be selected so that an
equal number of precincts are selected in each congressional
district of the state. Of the precincts in each congressional
district, at least five must have had more than 500 votes cast,
and at least two must have had fewer than 500 votes cast. The
secretary of state must promptly provide notices of which
precincts are chosen to the election administration officials
who are responsible for the conduct of elections in those
precincts.

(c) One week before the state general election beginning in
2006, the secretary of state must post on the office Web site
the date, time, and location at which precincts will be randomly
chosen for review under this section. The chair of each major
political party may appoint a designee to observe the random
selection process.

Subd. 2. Scope and conduct of review. Each review is
limited to federal and state offices and must consist of at
least the following:

(a) The election officials immediately responsible for a
precinct chosen for review must conduct the following review and
submit the results in writing to the State Canvassing Board
before it meets to canvass the election:

(1) a hand tally of the paper ballots or electronic ballot
marker record, of whatever kind used in that precinct, for each
contested election;

(2) a recount using the actual machine and software used on
election day, if a precinct-count or central-count automated
voting system was used; and

(3) a comparison of the hand tally with the reported
results for the precinct in the county canvassing board report,
as well as the actual tape of any automated tabulation produced
by any precinct-count or central-count optical scan equipment
that may have been used to tabulate votes cast in that precinct.

(b) The staff of the Office of the Secretary of State shall
conduct or directly supervise a review of the procedures used by
the election officials at all levels for a precinct chosen for
review, including an inspection of the materials retained for
the official 22-month retention period, such as the rosters, the
incident log, and the ballots themselves. The staff must submit
a written report to the secretary of state before the next
regularly scheduled meeting of the State Canvassing Board.

Subd. 3. Standard of acceptable performance by
tabulating equipment. Each comparison of the precinct-count
or central-count tabulating equipment system with the review
described in subdivision 2, paragraph (a), must be accurate to
within one-half of one percent variation for each contested
election. If any review conducted under subdivision 2,
paragraph (a), reveals a discrepancy greater than one-half of
one percent, the Office of the Secretary of State shall as soon
as practicable conduct an additional review of at least ten
percent of the tabulating equipment used in the jurisdiction of
the election for which the discrepancy was discovered. If this
review results in a discrepancy greater than the one-half
percent standard, the Office of the Secretary of State must
conduct a complete audit of the election for which the
discrepancy was discovered. If a complete audit must be
conducted, the results of the audit must be used by the
canvassing board in making its report and determinations of
persons elected and propositions rejected or approved. If a
voting system is found to have failed to record votes in a
manner that indicates electronic operational failure, the
canvassing board must use the voter-verifiable audit records to
determine the votes cast on the system, unless the audit records
were also impaired by the operational failure of the voting
machine. Notwithstanding section 204C.33, subdivision 3, the
result of any election subject to this audit must not be
declared until the audit is completed.

Subd. 4. Standard of acceptable performance by election
judges and administrators. Each comparison of materials and
documents generated in the course of the election in the
selected precinct is expected to reveal no substantive errors
and a minimum of technical issues by election judges and
administrators.

Subd. 5. Failure to meet standards. (a) If a voting
system fails to meet the standard set forth in subdivision 3,
the manufacturer of the model of machine in question must obtain
recertification pursuant to section 206.57 and rules adopted
under that section, and is liable for penalties under section
206.66.

(b) If election judges or administrators fail to meet the
standard in subdivision 4, the judges and administrators for the
county where the precinct is located must attend training
designed to eliminate the errors causing the failure. The
Office of the Secretary of State must consider whether those
errors or issues warrant inclusion in the statewide training
programs conducted by the Office of the Secretary of State.

Subd. 6. Costs of review. The costs of conducting
the review required by this section must be allocated as follows:

(a) The county or municipality responsible for each
precinct selected for review must bear costs incurred under
subdivision 2, paragraph (a).

(b) The secretary of state must bear the costs incurred
under subdivision 2, paragraph (b), and subdivision 3, including
travel, expenses, and staff time of the Office of the Secretary
of State.